The closest looks like he has seen plenty in his life and could tell a story or two.

I posted this here a week ago.

A friend of mine who is a quite good amateur photographer saw this image and commented that I should have used Photoshop to mask that area to the right and put in a background instead of the blow-out (I was shooting three men in a patio bar with the sun behind them) area.

He shoots mostly portrait photos, and background is very important to him. I think, with this type of shot, that what you get trumps what you can turn it into.

What's the feeling of others?



[/quote]

Originally Posted by TonyCooper I posted this here a week ago. A friend of mine who is a quite good amateur photographer saw this image and commented that I should have used Photoshop to mask that area to the right and put in a background instead of the blow-out (I was shooting three men in a patio bar with the sun behind them) area. He shoots mostly portrait photos, and background is very important to him. I think, with this type of shot, that what you get trumps what you can turn it into. What's the feeling of others?

[/quote]Yeah the background is pretty blown. This is Street and PJ, though, so I'd say, maybe tone down the blowout and open up the front of the men, a bit, so as to draw more attention to them than the blown out background. Maybe vingeting that side would help.

Don

Originally Posted by TonyCooper What's the feeling of others?

I don't think I can really say without seeing it done. Some backgrounds might work, some might not, dunno. What's nice about this pic are the faces and the blown background doesn't bother me at all. If anything, I would force the one dark blotch above the hat on the right to pure white, or whatever the rest of the background is there.

Originally Posted by DonRicklin the background is pretty blown.

It's a nice shot.

Slight cropping at the top and more severe cropping at the right (to the back of the main subject's neck) will deal to the blown-out areas, and also reinforce attention on the faces - especially the fellow in the foreground.

I think DonRicklin makes a good point. Would swapping out the background mean that the photo couldn't be considered street anymore? I would have to say that it would. Street photography doesn't always produce "perfect" photos, but for me at least, that is all part of the charm.

In your photo, the blowout doesn't bother me so much because it's balanced by the darkness in the bottom left corner. The men fill a large part of the frame and their faces have detail creating interest. It's a good photo so my vote is on leaving it as is or toning it down just a little if you really feel like it needs changing. Try vignetting just that corner to start with and see how it looks.

Originally Posted by PMC I think DonRicklin makes a good point. Would swapping out the background mean that the photo couldn't be considered street anymore? I would have to say that it would. Street photography doesn't always produce "perfect" photos, but for me at least, that is all part of the charm. In your photo, the blowout doesn't bother me so much because it's balanced by the darkness in the bottom left corner. The men fill a large part of the frame and their faces have detail creating interest. It's a good photo so my vote is on leaving it as is or toning it down just a little if you really feel like it needs changing. Try vignetting just that corner to start with and see how it looks.

I'm not advocating radical change, just some normal 'darkroom' work. Dodge down the blowout some and burn in a bit more detail on the righthand man. And the right side vignetting can help keep from sliding right out that side.



Don

this is a great shot I'd try cropping from the top right and a bit on top to deal with the blown bit. When you start substituting backgrounds you start messing with the 'reality' of the shot IMHO. Those faces ace any imperfections in lighting to the right.

I'm going to second Patti's thoughts. You should look at a square crop anchored from the left hand side. I'm not so concerned about the blow outs, but it's the faces that make this is a nice shot. You also don't need the full hat and head of the Gentleman on the right.

I love it as is--DON'T TOUCH IT!

This is a fantastic photo! One of your best in my opinion and I may be in the minority or totally alone, but I like the blown space and the sunlight coming over the man's cowboy hat---

Crop from the right to just almost the edge of his hair, the top is fine.